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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Help (02/20/06)
I have a thing about ice.

Okay, it’s not really ice I have a problem with, it’s the falling down that occurs where ice is involved.

Actually, it’s not even the falling down that bothers me so much, it’s the thought of the recovery from falling down that causes the fear to fill my stomach with knots. I don’t really consider this an irrational fear. A few years ago a small patch of ice caused me a great deal of anguish. I managed to slip on what was probably the last remaining patch of ice in the state of Colorado and break my wrist. Wait, let me rephrase that. I slipped on a small patch of ice while I was walking to my back door and fell down a steep hill into a hole and, in fact, shattered my wrist. After several weeks of rather painful and ineffective attempts to coax the pieces back into their designated places in a noninvasive manner, the doctor finally had to resort to surgery. He attached a piece of titanium to the bones of my arm at the wrist that, in the x-rays, look like some sort of Zen garden rake. Things got better after that, except that I had developed a perfectly reasonable fear of falling down on ice. What may not be quite as reasonable was my decision, recently, to spend a term studying in the Swiss Alps…in January…a few kilometers from an international ski resort. This combination of facts might have caused a reasonable person to assume that there could, at some point, be the lethal combination of steep hill and ice. Apparently, that did not occur to me. To be honest, what had not occurred to me was that I might be required to walk up and down a very steep hill at least once or twice a day regardless of weather. All reasonableness aside, I eventually found myself standing at the top of a very steeply sloping sidewalk watching one of the students, who was in his early twenties, slide from top to bottom with no impediment. As I stood there contemplating the consequences of simply turning around and reentering the chalet I had just left and skipping lecture and other responsibilities for the day, a very nice young man appeared at my side and took my arm. He had heard me talk about my fear of falling and knew why I hesitated. He assured me that he was quite unlikely to fall down since he was from Sweden. For some reason I accepted that his nationality made him immune to the effects of ice. He walked me to lecture and back to the chalet. When it was time to venture out to another chalet for lunch he showed up once more at my side since the sidewalks and roads were still very icy. He walked me to lunch even though it was out of his way and caused him to have to hurry off to his own lunch which was much more distant. As one might expect it was only a few weeks later that I woke up to find the sidewalks and roads covered with snow and ice once more. As I stood yet again at the top of the walk to chapel another young man appeared at my side and showed me how to slide down the icy hill without falling, providing me with a way to avoid becoming a prisoner of the weather.

Sometimes, though, our fears are not so easily identified and addressed. When I pause at the door of a room filled with people I have not yet met and the fear of being judged and the fear of being rejected make me contemplate turning to leave before I even begin, who will appear at my side to walk me past my fear? Who, indeed, will show me how to conquer my fear so that I am no longer a prisoner? No one will overhear me talking about these fears because they are carefully guarded in my heart of hearts. So, who will know that I need someone to take my arm?

John 14:16 says “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” (English Standard Version)
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Lynda Schultz 
03/01/06
This is good writing. One thing that would help a reader get through it better would be to break that HUGE third paragraph into smaller chunks—ice cubes aren't as hard to handle as those bigger patches of ice. Good message.
Sue Stone
03/03/06
Good story. I can understand about the ice...I have a similar problem about driving in the snow! But you really, really, really, really, really need to break that 3 paragraph up, probably into several.